Our dog is an important member of our family. She's our pet. She's a protector of our family and our home. She's a playmate for our children. She's a companion for my husband and myself. When we have to go out and work in freezing cold temperatures or during the wee hours of the morning or in the blistering heat of the sun, she's right there with us. She doesn't complain about the cold or the rain or grumble that she's just too tired. She just wants to be with us.

It's true that the life of a farm dog can be a hard one. There are hazards and harsh conditions not experienced by those dogs living the high life in Manhattan apartments or neatly manicured suburban homes. We counter the harshness of farm life by making sure we keep her up-to-date on her shots, get her regular check-ups at the vet even though she hates that, and feeding her nutritious food.

Years ago, when I was still relying heavily on convenience foods for myself and my family, I saw no problem feeding my dog cheap, store brand dog food. I figured it was sound nutrition and really didn't worry about it. It wasn't until I started to research nutrition for my family and started to change our diets that I began to reconsider what my dog was eating. I started to realize that dog food suffered from many of the same, if not worse, problems that overly-processed, pre-packaged foods meant for human consumption suffered from. It was low on nutritive value, it was full of weird fillers and chemicals and it could lead to problems like obesity, heart disease, allergies, cancer and diabetes. So we decided to go a more natural route for our dog. We wanted to feed food that contained natural, healthy ingredients but good quality pre-made dog food is downright expensive.

After talking to her vet we came up with an even better alternative. We would make her food ourselves. Let me stop here a minute. If you are thinking about making your own dog food for your furry friend it's important to talk to their vet first. They can give you a handle on what your individual pet will need in terms of balance, supplements, amount, etc. That's what we did for our dog. We sat down with her vet and came up with a recipe for her that includes chicken or beef, sweet potato or oatmeal, brown rice or oatmeal, and spinach or kale. I try to prepare two weeks worth of food at one time and I'll switch out the recipe the next time I prepare it to keep her from getting bored with it. So, for one two week period it will be chicken, sweet potato, brown rice and kale and the next it will be ground beef or liver, oatmeal and spinach.

The preparation is super simple. I really just put everything except the kale or spinach into a large pot of water, bring it all to a boil together and then let it simmer for an hour or two or however long needed to cook the meat through, then I throw in the greens and simmer a few minutes longer, drain everything and dump it all into a really large bowl.

If I've made chicken I will separate the meat from the bones and shred it before adding it into the bowl. Then I simply mix it all up, mashing the sweet potatoes as I go, until it's all combined. The end result isn't much to look at, but, as you can clearly see, she thinks it tastes great.

The result of feeding her homemade food has been remarkable. Her coat is much healthier. She has more energy. Her eyes are brighter. She has less gas (that's something we ALL benefit from) and even her poo is smaller and more solid. And she no longer has anymore problems with dry itchy skin.

All told making her food ourselves has been no more expensive than buying a bag of the cheap store brand dog food and not much more effort either. Win/win.